Nothing Clean, Right?

Can I tell you how much I hate doing laundry? Today especially, the laundry gods are against me.
1 working washer out of 2 in the basement. Not enough quarters. 5 loads to do. One child, vomiting like clockwork every 30 minutes.

Open Up!

Once when I was a student at BYU, living with 2 other girls in a house on 7th north, I was taking a shower and some guy pounded on the wall outside the shower on the side of the house and said, "Police! Open up!" My heart was beating a mile a minute- I didn't wash the conditioner out my hair, but did pull on some jeans and a sweatshirt, and rushed to my front door. There were about 15 men standing on my front lawn. I cracked open the door and managed to get out a squeaky, "yes?"
"Police."
"Yeah, right." I start trying to figure out a way bar the door. I honestly didn't believe it was the police. They were all just wearing jeans and sweatshirts and construction boots.
"Police, ma'am," flashes me his badge. "We're looking for person X [shows me a picture]. Have you seen her?"
"Nope."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Voice still shaking.
"Thanks."
15 plainclothes police officers wander off my lawn.

After freaking out for a while longer, I went and finished my shower. The rest of the time that I lived there, I couldn't take a shower without feeling completely uneasy.

It still bothers me that I have no idea why they were looking for the person, if she ever had lived there, why it took so many police officers to question me, why they were all wearing construction boots.

Bed Bugs Bite!

Today I bring you 4 sleep-related posts. Caution! Reading this post may cause drowsiness, lightheadedness, and fever.

1. Last night we put the girls to bed and I told them to "sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!" This was the first time they've ever heard that, and they thought it was HILARIOUS! For the next several minutes they kept chanting, "Bed Bugs Bite!" and cracking up every time.

It was a little bittersweet for me. Hearing them laugh about such a silly thing- something that as an adult I have heard and said hundreds of times was really nice. But it made me sad that now they've heard it, and it won't be new or funny ever like it was last night.

I know this is part of growing up, and of course there will be lots of new experiences and funny things to say, but last night it became very apparent.


2. The Sleepover didn't happen. They never asked, and I never gave.

3. Today after we got home from the park, the girls were so beat that they just fell asleep in the living room.


Of course, when I hauled them up to their beds, they woke up and demanded lunch and stories. And then have been playing and hopping in and out of their beds for the past hour. Which brings me to number four.

4. My dear friend Kerolann, who has kids that are 4, 2, and -2 months wrote to ask me if I get mad when my kids play instead of sleep. She said that she gets frustrated when her kids aren't sleeping and are playing instead (probably even with the baby that isn't born yet. All that kicking can really get to you!) The answer is, yes, I do get mad, but only during nap time, my few precious hours of peace and quiet during the day. At night, they (mostly) stay in their beds, so even when they are singing and talking until 10, I'm happy that they are enjoying each other's company. Except that they never sleep in and are always up by 6:30 the next morning. And are incredibly sleepy and grouchy.

When they don't sleep during their naps I get so frustrated! I just want to nap, or knit or sew or read or cook dinner. I still make them stay in their room for a few hours, but that isn't always a good idea. Behold the workings of Hurricane Camille:


While the city sleeps, Camille wreaks havoc! No book goes unharmed, no toy undumped, no sunglasses unworn.

In fact, when I walked in, there was one remaining book on the shelf. She looked at me and smiled, picked up the book and tossed it on the ground. The reason that I went in to fetch her was because she was saying, "No space for me, mommy!"

Obviously.

Apparently I am being paid back for the horrid state in which I have kept my bedroom my entire life.

Yes Kerolann, I do get mad. I get mad, and then I get even.

(Any ideas on how to get even?)

Sleepover Party

Last night when we were about to go to bed we heard the girls talking and playing with their toys. They were obviously out of their cribs, so we went in to put them back in and this is what we found.

They were curled up on the floor next to each other in the pink blanket. They were SO sad to have to get back in their beds, that I made the HUGE mistake of promising them that if they would get back in their beds and sleep in them every night that they could have a sleepover party on Friday.

I'm not sure exactly what the sleepover party will entail, but I'm kind of hoping that they forget that I even said anything. What was I thinking?!

So, SO, Pretty

This morning when Grace came downstairs after getting dressed, Camille said, "Grace! You look so, so pretty in that dress!"

Teenagers or Toddlers?

Camille's new favorite thing to say is, "No! I never will!!!" Last night she wouldn't eat her dinner. "No! I never will!!!" Today she wouldn't come put her clothes on, get in the wagon to go to the store, eat her beans, have her diaper changed... "No! I never will!!!"

It was driving me crazy for a while, as I racked my brains trying to think of what terribly ill-behaved person she could have come in contact with to concoct such a defiant statement. Then I remembered this book:

We don't own the actual "leap pad" system, but have this book for some reason. I don't really know how it functions as a teaching tool, but the books seem to be randomly generated- all sorts of words that are just there because they're 3 letter words.

It's a story about a little boy frog who is sad because his parents left him to go on a date. His grandpa frog and brother and sister frog try to entertain him and get him to eat everything in the fridge, but to no avail. "No! I NEVER will!"

Cryptic

This didn't really turn out to be so funny. I can't think of anything else to write about, except to tell Brook and Sean that it was live. But I don't know if they all are.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car):
Gypsy Civic
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe):
Peach Flip Flop
3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal):
Green Giraffe
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born):
Marie Hemet
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name):
HeaSa
6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink):
Blue Water
7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers):
Owen James
9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter):
Slawson Sydney
10. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower):
Christmas Dahlia
11. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now):
Pineapple Shorts
12. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Nothing Weeping Willow

Thanks Madelyn

Nice Sculpture, Michaelangelo

We were playing with playdoh yesterday. Grace asked Paul to make her a dog:

Apparently it wasn't the kind of dog she wanted.

It probably didn't help that we were laughing at her and taking pictures of her tantrum, but it was so funny to see her face after Paul said, "here Grace! It's your doggy! " Grace just burst out crying and wouldn't stop...
Until I constructed 3 cats.

Tales of a Potty

We've never really gotten into the swing of potty training, mostly because the girls don't want to and it makes them all stressed. I'm fine with this- despite the cost of diapers, they certainly are convenient, and with the super-absorbency these days, I only have to change them once every few days (laugh here). Anyway, we have some little potties for the girls to sit on, which they've done maybe once a month for the past 6 months and actually gone in maybe twice each. Maybe.

Our dear friends Emily and Sarah just brought a copy of "Once Upon A Potty" (pictured on the bookshelf at right) and it has been added to our daily repertoire of books. Today Camille decided to sit on the potty, and after about 1 hour, she peed. It was a great success. She got a sucker. Tonight she needed to poop, so she sat on the potty. For almost 2 hours. Nothing happened. There's a page in the book that says, "she sat, and sat, and sat....." for the whole page, which is exactly what happened with Camille.

The only difference is that I read to Camille for the WHOLE time today. Penelope's (the star of the book) mom doesn't have to read to her at all! She just sits there nicely! Now, you should know that reading is Camille and Grace's favorite thing to do. We probably read about 25 books a day, and would read more if I didn't make us do other things. So, what should I do about the potty thing? Teddy Ruxpin wasn't a viable alternative. I am loathe to use the TV, because I only let the girls watch the TV maybe 2 hours a week, and they would become potty addicts if I resorted to that. I guess it's just got to be done, but I feel like the Fox in Socks.

Now is your tongue numb?

Reunite

So, this year is my 10 year class reunion. Ha! I have mixed feelings about going- I mostly wish that I could go tucked inside someone's (large) purse so I could just see people but not be seen. Would you go to your reunion? Did you go to your reunion, oh small number of people that are older than me?

I kind of wish that I was pregnant- just so I'd have an excuse for looking not so great. What other things could I do to trick people into thinking that I look better than I did in highschool, besides lose 30 pounds?